A walk with Trahzi

Gerald opened his eyes to find another dead animal lying next to him. He shot up and looked around, but the park was empty at this early hour, save for a few little robots trimming the hedges. Rubbing his eyes, he scooted a little farther away from it on the bench he was on.

"Waking up to a dead animal on a park bench... probably bad day," he guessed.

This time it was a small mouse-like animal, with a long prehensile tail that ended in a furry claw. Gerald found a stick and poked it just to make sure it was dead.

Gerald threw his head back and sneezed. It had rained on him again during the night, and he was chilled to the bone, despite the fact that the weather control grids on Central were supposed to make that impossible.

"Gerald."

His heart nearly leapt out of his chest. "Soeck's teeth, Trahzi, why do you keep sneaking up on people like that?"

She walked up to him, the first rays of morning light reflecting off her polished red skin. "You were not at our designated meeting place. We have been searching for you for some time."

"Yeah, sorry about that," he said, stretching wearily.

Trahzi looked him over with her pupil-less black eyes. "Why did you sleep on a park bench?"

He yawned. "I'd really rather not talk about it."

"Why?"

Gerald looked up to see if she was being serious. "Well, I guess it's because people consider some things to be private, and discussing them with others makes them feel uncomfortable."

Trahzi brightened. "Yes, we are beginning to understand this concept. For example, yesterday when you went up to eat lunch with Zurra, we found ourselves becoming upset unexpectedly. It made us... uncomfortable that you were with her."

Gerald crinkled his nose. "Why would that make you feel uncomfortable?"

Trahzi shifted her weight from side to side and closed her eyes, a light blush on her cheeks. "We'd really rather not talk about it."

"You learn fast, don't you?"

She nodded.

Gerald stood up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. When he finished he glanced down at the dead mouse. "By any chance did you..."

"No, we did not leave it there."

"Okay, just checking. I'm starting to wonder if this is like a bad omen or some kind of message or something."

Trahzi began striding away for their morning walk, and he jogged up alongside her.

"Actually we find that having so much contact with the others is affecting us in subtle ways, or perhaps it is a result of separating this body from the rest. We cannot be sure, but regardless of the cause, we do not recall our emotions being so varied or so strong in the past."

"Wow, really? Do you mean it?"

She tilted her head. "Mean... like a mathematical average? We fail to see how that relates to our feelings."

"No, not that kind of mean. I mean, mean like signify. Ugh, this can be frustrating sometimes."

"Do not blame us. Homonyms are part of your language, not ours."

Gerald flicked the device on his ear. "Yeah, not one of our better inventions. The translator doesn't handle them well."

As they walked, students gathered around to watch, taking pictures and uploading it to the school network.

"Did you hear? Dyson is double-timing the Trahzi?" One girl asked her friend.

"How scandalous!" She responded.

"She should burn the pervert to a crisp."

"Maybe she will."

"I hope she does it while I'm recording it."

Already three pages dedicated to hating on Gerald and a petition to get him expelled had been created on the school network and were being passed around. Dozens of copies hung in the air like pamphlets of light.

A small cleaning robot rounded the corner at breakneck speed. Trahzi jumped out of the way, but it collided with Gerald, flipping him end over end. He landed on his back, looking up at the three blue suns rising in the sky, while the students nearby laughed and uploaded the footage to the net.

Gerald clucked his tongue. "Definitely a bad day."

When Trahzi stood over him, Gerald caught himself staring at her toned legs. He shook it off and grasped his prayer beads tightly as he rose to his feet. "You know, it might help me more in your mission if I knew more about your people."

"What do you wish to know?"

He smacked his lips. "Well, like do all Trahzi look like you?"

She shook her head. "Physically we are as varied as most species. We have males and females, although the distinction means little beyond reproduction. Provided there is sufficient food source for the mother to produce milk, a Trahzi infant will grow to maturity within a matter of days, and unlike your kind, they have no need to be taught."

"Wow," Gerald said.

Trahzi raised an eyebrow. "Does this interest you?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, think about it. That means that in a way, the Trahzi haven't learned anything new in eons."

"In a way, yes. That is most insightful."

Gerald wobbled. "That makes me feel even more inadequate. I mean, who am I to teach anything to a quasi-immortal consciousness that has existed since the beginning of time?"

"Like we said, you were not our first choice."

"Oh, gee, thanks," he kidded in a dopey voice.

Trahzi stopped in her tracks and looked at him strangely.

"What?" he asked.

Slowly a little grin crossed her face, and then she laughed out loud.

Gerald was so surprised he laughed too. Watching her laugh was so odd. It was a sweet, innocent sound, in complete contrast to everything he thought he knew about her.

When the laughter finally died down, she looked at him curiously. "You made us laugh," she said.

"I didn't even think it was that funny."

"We didn't know we had the ability to laugh."

* * *

Cha'Rolette ducked down into a fighting stance.

"Wait, I think he just made her laugh," Thuquan reported

Cha'Rolette turned her head in a panic. "Wait, what?"

Jonarl stretched out his fist, catching her solidly in the midsection and sending her slamming into the wall, fracturing the marble.

* * *

Gerald laughed one last time, and then they continued walking. "I guess when you are all the same, you don't end up with a highly developed sense of humor."

She shook her head. "We are not all the same. Even though we share the same mind, individual bodies will exhibit various levels of strength and aptitude."

"Wow, so out of all your people, you were chosen to be ambassador. That must be quite an honor for you."

"Me?"

"Yes, the Trahzi in this body."

She looked disturbed. "That is not a distinction we normally make, and even if we did..."

The full weight of something occurred to her, and she looked away, suddenly growing as silent and morose as when he first knew her.

Gerald decided not to press the issue, and as they walked through the quad, more students watched them pass.

"I thought he was supposed to be a monk," a girl said, her arms folded critically as they passed.

"Did you hear? Last night he went to a love motel with the new girl," her friend spat.

"Why does he need so many girls?"

"He doesn't deserve any of them!"

Maybe it was the awkward silence between them, or maybe it was to drown out the comments from the onlookers, but as they approached the science building, Trahzi started sharing again.

"We were the first to achieve sentience in our galaxy. We explored its lengths and depths, but found ourselves to be alone. Finally, when the food supplies in our home galaxy began to run low, we traveled to yours."

"Wait, so you can eat the souls of other things, not just people?"

She nodded. "We can sustain ourselves on plant and animal life, but they provide far less energy. It takes several hundred tons of plant life to provide the same nutrition as the soul from one sentient creature."

"Interesting."

"Is it? Seems rather mundane to us. When we arrived in your galaxy, the first other we met was a traveler named Hee'hidzin. The man who would eventually become known as the ArchTyrant. We had no concept of lying at that time, and he took advantage of our naiveté. When he offered to us the chance to cull the weak from the others, a food source more rich and abundant than we had ever known, we were too blinded by our greed to see him for what he truly was."

There was something sad in her voice. Almost regretful. Normally Gerald would allow the moment to linger, and let her introspect, but this time something was making him feel uncomfortable, and he hastened to change the subject.

"Wow, I've never seen a Trahzi starship. They must be incredible."

Trahzi looked at him strangely. "We have no need for interstellar vessels."